The Postcard

Reviews / Votes

"A deeply moving book." * Leila Slimani, author of Lullaby * "A powerful exploration of family trauma." * Lauren Elkin, author of Art Monsters * "Impeccably researched, it combines the heft of lived experience with the drive of narrative fiction." * The Guardian * "Undeniably compelling." * VOGUE * "An intimate and profound story." * ELLE * "Anne Berest's The Postcard reads like a detective story, uncovering her Jewish family's experiences during the Second World War." * The New Yorker * "This prizewinning novel is a family history and detective story based on a real-life incident..." * The Washington Post * "[A] powerful literary work... that contains a single grand-scale act of self-discovery and many moments of historical illumination." * The New York Times * "The names of Ephraim, Emma, Noemie and Jacques Rabinovitch, along with the millions of other Jews who were murdered by the Nazi regime, need to live on in our history books so that future generations never forget. Anne Berest has written a commanding piece of work, a very personal journey, with The Postcard deserving every award and piece of acclaim that it garners. Noemie Rabinovitch's beautiful face will be forever etched in my mind." * Swirl and Thread * "Powerful, engrossing... let's hope that a book like this, which encompasses both the monstrosities of the past and the dangers of the present, will guard us from complacency." * Wall Street Journal * "In what feels like a literary magic trick, Berest transforms her own family's complex and heartbreaking Holocaust history into a novel that masterfully blends elements of drama, mystery and philosophy. It's propulsive yet deep-an intimate, exacting contemplation of loss that somehow ends in love." * People Magazine * "In Berest's phenomenal English-language debut novel the author pieces together stories of her ancestors who were lost at Auschwitz... With bracing prose, smoothly translated by Kover, Berest takes an unflinching look at antisemitism past and present... The more Anne learns of her family, the more powerful her story of reclaiming her ancestry becomes. This is brilliant." * Publisher's Weekly (starred review) * "The story overall is poignant, tense, restless, and ultimately pivotal, as Anne not only solves her mystery, but, more importantly, gains her identity.
The anguish and horror of genocide arrive with fresh impact in an absorbing personal account." * Kirkus Reviews * "The Postcard is a vivid indictment of France's betrayal of the Jews. And the truth about the postcard is an absolute heartbreaker." * The Sunday Times * "The Postcard provides a vivid portrait of Vichy France as antisemitic laws tightened." * Financial Times * "Delving into the past allows Anne Berest to recover part of her identity both as an individual and as one of many damaged by the horrors of persecutions that took place before they were born." * TLS * "The Postcard goes on to spin a full and textured rendering of these relatives' lives before they were cruelly killed, rendering the horrors of the Holocaust horrifically fresh. Once the novel has covered this ground, however, it becomes almost a modern-day thriller, circling in on the mysterious mail at its center." ("The Best-and Most Anticipated-Books of 2023", VOGUE) * VOGUE *